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The Parliament of World’s Religions (PWR): Panel Discussion, Master Doc.

‘For Inter-Religious Harmony and World Peace, self-Knowing is sine qua non’.

Themes Considered:

1. Why did the Parliament of World’s Religions (PWRs) come into Existence?

2. Understanding the Challenge facing Globalization:

3. Fundamentals: the body, the self, the Atma:

4. The Challenge of Globalization at the Individual Level:

5. The Higher and Lower Functions of the Religions:

6. Mankind’s ‘Sense of Separation’, Psychological Insecurity and Xenophobia:

7. The Problem of the Strong, exploiting, oppressing and even killing off the Weak:

8. The Framework of the Global Ethic (GE):

9. The 2018 Parliament Themes:

10. Apex Body Members of the PWR in Chicago:

11. Theme of the Panel Discussion (Session Title):

12. The Panellists:

13. Supporting Group Members Present at the PWR 2018:

14. That One Self-Same Problem which we are trying to Solve,

whether it be in the Life of our: Societies, Religions or Nations?

15. Change: A Pole Shift in our ‘Domain of Attention and Arena of Action’:

Change: From Outer Society to the Inner Consciousness of the Individual:

16. The 2018 PWR’s Focal Theme of Change:

17. The Paradigm Shift of self-Knowing that has already happened in the Religious

Understanding of man’s self, whereas, there is an Obliviousness to this Momentous

Shift - in all the Religions of the World:

18. Faith and Fanaticism, their Relationship in the World Religions:

19. The Rot in Religions sets in, from the Top & Descends to the Bottom:

20. ‘Tolerance’ is an Impoverished Solution for all Conflicts:

21. ‘That Dark Cloud of Divisive Perception, Thought and Feeling’

22. Where Religious Authority is Beneficial

and where Religious Authority is Positively Harmful:

23. Anchorage to ‘Spirituality’, not to Religion:

24. Religion has become Unintelligible to Modern Man:

25. The Functions of Religion:

26. ‘Together we can Move Mountains’ (Affirmation of the GE):

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1. Why did the Parliament of World’s Religions come into Existence?

The first PWR happened in Chicago, way back in 1893. On this historic occasion, the

momentous address of Swami Vivekananda on the religious heritage and harmony in

India, planted the first seeds of the inter-faith dialogue among the nations of the world.

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Today, impartial observers watching the growth of the inter-faith movement in the world,

see Swami Vivekananda’s 1983 momentous address as that ‘seminal beginning’, which

also eventually blossomed as the fruitful spiritual trees of Vedanta, Yoga and

Meditation, for the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the American people

and the whole world.

Here we may mention in passing that India, over the millennia had gone on assimilating

various peoples, so much so, that by 1893, the year in which Swami Vivekananda spoke

in Chicago; India had already gone down in world- history as the uniquely mystical and

religious land, where people of seven religions peacefully co-existed with one another,

side by side, innocent of any sense of separation between the self and the other.

These original religions which had found a home in India are: - apart from the ancestral

religion of Hinduism, which is native to India - Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism,

Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. It was for this very reason, that the original

founders of The International Theosophical Society, namely, Madam Helena Petrovna

Bhavatsky (Russian) and Mr. Henry Steel Olcott (American) came to India from New

York, with an unwavering determination to establish the world head-quarters of their Intl

Society, in India and they chose that auspicious site on the bank of the Adayar river, in

Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1886).

The Meeting of the PWR in 2018, scheduled to be held this time in Toronto, is reckoned

as the 125th anniversary of the original PWR. It is extremely noteworthy that after having

met in Chicago in 1893, there was no subsequent Meeting of the PWR for the next one

hundred years. The second Meeting of the PWR happened only in 1993, again in

Chicago, and therefore this marked the centenary of the first PWR. It may appear to be a

mystery, as to why the PWR went into hibernation for a full century before it dramatically

bounced back to life in 1993. Some significant light on this mystery appears from one of

the American Institutes devoted to Inter Faith.

https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/the-parliament-of-the-world-s-religions-

1893-and-1993

There is evidence that the resuscitation of the PWR happened, because of the inspiration

and motivation of two Sannyasis of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda monastic order. They

were, Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Sarveshananda, who were in the later 1980s

on US soil. The American Swami Varadananda was in Chicago at that time and was

persuaded and inspired by Swami Tapasyananda and especially by Swami

Sarveshananda to resuscitate the PWR, which had initially come to birth in 1893.

Here in this very revealing dialogue between Dr. Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chair of the

Council of the PWR, and Swami Varadananda, you see unmistakable evidence of Swami

Sarveshananda and Swami Tapasyananda, being significantly instrumental in the revival

and resuscitation of the PWR in 1993, through a newly drawn up Inter-Faith

Organization. Swami Varadananda has been a Trustee of that newly founded apex body

and currently he is an emeritus Trustee. Dr. Abdul Malik Mujahid is seen closely

questioning Swami Varadananda, to ascertain how, the resuscitation of the PWR

happened after a gap of one hundred years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2TOGl7IgyM

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2. Understanding the Challenge facing Globalization:

It is important for us to take note that, even prior to the advent of aviation technology,

the world was already on an inevitable path of globalization since the preceding three

centuries.

Therefore, even at the turn of the twentieth century, peoples of widely divergent religions,

cultures, languages, lands, races, colours, appearances, and nationalities, were already

having to contend with the ‘new unending challenge of encountering and mingling with

alien peoples’.

This calls for an understanding of the nature of the challenge that was inherent in such

globalization. At the outset, we may note that the mingling with alien peoples is wholly

different from mingling with known people; people of our own language, our colour, our

culture, our religion, and our kindred appearance, etc.

To proceed further on this road of understanding the challenge properly, we must learn

a few fundamental religious principles, for without this knowledge of our consciousness,

we will not be able to grasp, how the challenge arises; and much less, how we may resolve

it intelligently, in a systematic manner, so that the problem, never makes a comeback.

3. Fundamentals: the body, the self, the Atma:

GE: “Every form of egoism should be rejected: all selfishness, whether individual or

collective, whether in the form of class thinking, racism, nationalism, or sexism.”

Firstly, we must hold in mind, the situation of two different individuals, from entirely

different cultures, speaking different languages, having different appearances,

encountering each other and having to mingle with each other. The gross outer form of

any individual is his visible body, while his subtle inner essence is his self. We readily

recognize the body, but it calls for deeper contemplation to arrive at one of humanity’s

root illusions, for, all of us assume that we are the visible body only. We take this

definition of ourselves, as the body, for granted and even our religions, generally, do not

encourage us to question this root assumption and root illusion-that we are the body.

The subtle inner essence of the self, is however, only a superficial inner essence, for

this self, is constituted on the surface, by the experiences of pleasure and pain that the

body and consciousness bring along, and by the unending flux of sensory infatuations

and distractions, sensory attractions and repulsions.

“But life is not superficial; it demands living completely and because we are living only

superficially, we know only superficial reaction. Whatever we do on the periphery, must

inevitably create a problem and that is our life: we live in the superficial and we are

content to live there with all the problems of the superficial. Problems exist as long as

we live in the superficial, on the periphery, the periphery being the ‘me’ and its

sensations, which can be externalized or made subjective, which can be identified with

the universe, with the country, or with some other thing, made up by the mind.”

-J. Krishnamurti in ‘Freedom from the Known’ Pg, 207.

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As this superficial self is identified with the body, it has a strong tendency towards a

divisive mentality, and ‘a strong feeling of separation, between itself and the other’,

which it initially perceives as a sensory ‘object’. Such an innate divisive mentality and a

strong feeling of separation creates in the self a proneness to evil-through its wrong

perception and self-centeredness. We may take this to be the ‘default-setting’ of the self.

An alteration of this fundamentally default setting may be possible if mankind applies

itself to this important challenge. But, this may call for serious effort, meditation,

religious understanding of the self and the Divine.

“Understanding of the self requires a great deal of intelligence, a great deal of

watchfulness, alertness, watching ceaselessly, so that it does not slip away….

“The whole process of that, namely, competition and every form of desire is the self and

we know when we are faced with it that it is an evil thing. I am using the word, ‘evil’

intentionally, because the self is dividing: the self is self-enclosing: its activities, however

noble, are separative and isolating.”

- J. Krishnamurti in ‘The First & Last Freedom’

However, in identifying the root of evil in our outer society, in the proneness of the self

to that evil; we should not miss out on the fundamental dichotomy of the self, for the

same self that sometimes veers towards evil, also at other times, veers towards the Divine

virtues of understanding, honesty, integrity, empathy and compassion.

Fortunately, quite distinct from this superficial essence of any individual, there is a core-

essence of his being. However, this core-essence is so deeply nestled within his

consciousness, completely inaccessible to his feeble senses and his rational intellect, that

without the correct religious instruction, learning, enquiry and meditation, this core-

essence within himself may never even be discovered.

While the superficial inner essence, the self, is personal, defined by our likes and dislikes,

our pleasurable and painful memories, our thoughts and feelings, our beliefs and fears;

our benevolent and malevolent nature; our core-essence, has nothing whatsoever to do

with our identifiable superficial personality, our memories, our attachments, all that we

know and cherish as ourselves. In this sense, our core-essence, is nothing which can be

identified, by the self, through the investigative activity of thought - as a unique centre,

as a supreme object, as a lofty experience, a source, an identifiable beacon; yet, it is the

only imperishable refuge for man, who is perpetually beset with a million problems and

million sufferings.

This core-essence is unknowable as a perceived object, as the ‘Other’, not-

experienceable, because, it is who we already are, as the subject, at the very core of our

being. So, it is impossible to know it and see it in much the same way, in which we would

see a flower, a tree, a planet, a star, a galaxy, an animal, a man, a god.

Therefore, it is not a goal to be reached by any effort in thought, by any seeking, not an

object to be possessed, not a god to be invoked in times of trouble, not a deity to be

worshipped; yet, without this core-essence of man, there would be no religion, no

goodness, no truth, no virtue, no liberation, no justice, no intelligence, no love, no

conscience, no light, no life itself.

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The Hindu Rishis, called this core-essence, the Atma. It has nothing to do with the

categories of space-time, or matter-energy-which are produced and experienced by the

senses and our superficial consciousness. It is birthless and deathless, Immortal,

Imperishable and the Hindu sages intuitively described it as Sat-Chit-Ananda, (Absolute

Truth, Awareness, Bliss). It is also, All Existence, Intelligence, Peace.

4. The Challenge of Globalization at the Individual Level:

Having laid bare, the fundamentals we need for developing an understanding of the

challenge facing globalization; let us now come back to the self of an individual, who

has to encounter and mingle with alien peoples. Let ‘A’ be one individual belonging to

one nation or one group of people, and ‘B’, another individual belonging to one of the

so-called alien peoples, with whom, ‘A’ is obliged to intermingle. ‘A’ assuredly has a

self, and obviously, ‘B’ too has a self.

‘A’’s self is conditioned by his religion, his language, his colour, his culture and so too,

it is the same story with ‘B’. Both are meeting and encountering each other at the

wavelength of their superficial self and we may well imagine, what we may expect from

such an encounter, given the divisive mentality of the self and the natural disposition of

the self to experience a ‘sense of separation in both sensory perception, as well as in

inner feeling’.

Even if for reasons of social courtesy and the ideal of universal brotherhood, ‘A’ and ‘B’,

exchange pleasantries, they will relate to each other only superficially, each safe-

guarding his own self-interest and each wary of the other, for the self in the case of both

‘A’ as well as ‘B’ has that ‘strong sense of separation in both sensory perception, as well

as in feeling’ and as long as this barrier is going to last, there can be no question of any

innocent and joyful meeting of their hearts.

Under such circumstances, as we may well imagine, the encountering of ‘A’ with ‘B’ is

bound to unleash that dangerous ‘sense of separation’ between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’;

and the consequent xenophobia, which always arises from a feeling of ‘psychological

insecurity’- which also springs up from the ground of sensory perception of those

‘disturbing’ differences in colour, appearance, language and religious ideologies.

If we go deeper, we may come to realize that even human history at the collective level,

always boils down to the drama of the encounter between the self and the other, at the

individual level, quite irrespective of, whether, it is the social, religious, or, political

sphere, in which the encounter actually comes to pass. How the self responds to this

encounter between itself and the other, will depend on what collective social, religious,

political conditioning, shape the outlook and perceptions of the self and naturally, the

same also holds good for the other.

In all this, the seminal nature of sensory perceptions, paving the way for conflict in both

the self and the other, must never be underestimated. For, even to begin with, there is

already ‘a sense of separation in both sensory perception and feeling’ between the self

and the other. This is simply the way the senses and the human consciousness work, it is

a kind of ‘default setting’ sourced in the Divine architecture of man.

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And in the absence of any thorough self-Knowing and/or profound religious teachings

on human nature, as to how the Divine has in fact, architectured man; the already existing

‘sense of separation in both sensory perception and feeling’ can only become a golden

opportunity and a fertile breeding ground for any additional division that may arise

between the self and the other, for other, social, religious and political reasons.

5. The Higher and Lower Functions of the Religions:

The higher function of all religions has been an attempt to modify this default setting in

the self, turn it upside down, overwrite on it, radically transform it-through the arduous

process of religious learning, enquiry, understanding and meditation, all to such a

profound extent that the individual finally becomes mature enough to spontaneously

renounce his identity of the superficial self, and come to discover his other hidden

identity of the Atma, his Divine essence.

And in sharp contrast to this higher function of all religions, which is salvation or

moksha (this Sanskrit term means freedom from all sorrow); organized religions which

have been greedy for mass following, have been busy discharging only the lower

function. They have never offered to the masses, the devotees, salvation. Instead, they

have been offering only the temporary sedation of solace. Such offering of solace is

always to the aggrieved self, which in its darkness, is at best not looking for anything

other than the promise of protection and psychological security, through Divine Grace.

In this process, there is no question at all, of the individual devotee of the organized

religion, relinquishing his superficial self, which is so prone to ‘a divisive mentality and

a sense of separation in perception and feeling’; and sinking deeper within himself to

discover the Atma, the Divine essence at the core of his being.

If and when through the higher functioning of the religions, such a transformation

happens in the two individuals, ‘A’ and ‘B’; then and only then, may we expect that in

any future encounter between them, the self in each, will have the assured possibility of

not functioning from that dangerous and divisive default setting of ‘a sense of separation

in both sensory perception and feeling’; but instead, will rather have the entirely new

possibility of perceiving an overarching unity between itself and the other.

We may add that even if among the two individuals who are alien to each other, only one

of them, say, ‘A’ alone, has discovered his Atmic identity, while, ‘B’ is still wallowing

in the old identity of the self; we would still be on relatively favourable ground, for a

possible blending of their hearts, in the course of their intermingling.

6. Mankind’s ‘Sense of Separation’, Psychological Insecurity and Xenophobia:

So, already by 1893, the time was quite ripe for people of diverse faiths and religions to

start addressing themselves to the entirely new and rather complex question of the

peaceful co-existence of mankind, despite these perceived differences and the consequent

fears that could arise from such sensory perceptions. In 2018, some 125 years after that

historical milestone, it is obvious that it is now more urgent than ever before to speedily

bring about the peaceful co-existence of the various peoples of the earth, before they

succeed in destroying each other, because of their perceived sense of ‘separation’, their

xenophobia, their feeling of insecurity, and their seemingly innocent

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religious/racial/political zealotry; which could well degenerate into their fanaticism,

ambition and aggression.

7. The Perennial Problem of the Strong, exploiting, oppressing and killing the Weak:

There is also the other concomitant tragedy that is as old as mankind itself, namely, the

evil of the strong, controlling, exploiting, oppressing and finally even killing off the weak.

Throughout human history and in every age and civilization, we have seen this violence

and cruelty perpetrated time and again, both at the individual level, as well as at the

collective, and there seems to be no end to the human suffering that these oppressions

and brutalities unleash.

We witness this malaise happening within the family; between the sexes, within marriage

and outside of it; in social strata, between the so-called high caste people and the low

caste ones; between the economically stronger and the weaker sections; between the

stronger nations and their weaker counterparts; and most disgracefully, even between

people of one religion and those of another; between people of one colour and those of

another.

Surveying world history along these lines, we may come to realize in a flash that there is

something fundamentally amiss in the individual’s self and sensory perception of the

world. His self seems to be inwardly fragile and insecure, highly prone to conflict not

only within himself, but also at loggerheads with all its fellow beings and the root of this

deep-seated malaise in the individual consciousness, is his self, which may be pandemic

to the species. This malaise has to be identified, brought into relief and studied, before

we may contemplate addressing the collective problem of the peaceful co-existence of

the various peoples of the earth in our globalizing age.

What is extremely shocking is that the suffering that is the result of destructive

divisiveness in our national, social, and religious life, is attempted to be solved through

religious persuasion, political diplomacy, legislation, social amelioration and charitable

works-but nowhere, do we see any understanding of the roots of these problems, which

lie in the self of man. Humanity’s approach to these recurring problems throughout

history has been one of superficiality, i.e.; through hypocritical brotherhood, face-saving

devises, and outer reconciliations bereft of a change of heart. There has been hardly

any realization that the root of these problems is the self of man, which has been the

timeless breeding ground for all outer ills in our societies.

8. The Framework of the Global Ethic:

When the PWR met again in Chicago in 1993, there was the making public of the

Declaration Toward a Global Ethic. This is an extraordinary declaration drafted initially

by Prof. Hans Küng, a Swiss Catholic theologian, in collaboration with the Council for

a Parliament of the World’s Religions, represented by some staff members, trustees

and other scholars. Prof. Hans Küng (born 1928, still alive), is best known for his

comprehensive writings on Christianity and the challenges within Christianity, for

example, importantly, for his rejection of the doctrine of Papal infallibility. The Global

Ethic is lofty in its aspirations, noble and pure in its intentions, idealistic and inspiring in

its contents, because it is the quintessential wisdom of all the religions of the world; yet

rightly so, the Global Ethic does not claim to have the knowledge to correct the

undesirable destructive course of human history, nor does it claim to have the answers

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to all our tormenting social, religious and political conflicts. Nevertheless, it is at least

asking us to scrupulously adhere to the Golden Rule: What you wish done to yourself,

do to others! as “unconditional norm for all areas of life and four principles” which can

be affirmed by all persons with ethical convictions, whether religiously grounded or not:

1. Commitment to a culture of non-violence and respect for life

2. Commitment to a culture of solidarity and a just economic order

3. Commitment to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness

4. Commitment to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women

This Declaration was signed at the Parliament of the World’s Religions gathering in 1993

by more than 200 leaders from 40+ different faith traditions and spiritual communities.

Since 1993 it has been signed by thousands more, leaders and individuals around the

world. As such, it established a common ground for people to agree and to cooperate for

the good of all [much of this reproduced from Wikipedia].

All participants and speakers at the 2018 PWR are expected to conform to the overall

framework of the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic (GE). Whatever theme, any

speaker or panel may choose to dwell on, that speaker or panel is obliged to confine itself

to the boundaries laid down by the scope and reach of the GE. It is for this reason; the

GE was already circulated to all seekers.

The author of the GE, Prof. Hans Küng was very clear, why he used the singular case,

rather than the plural-he was culling out from all the world religions, the quintessential

common denominator and to his mind, this had to be just one truth. He was not interested

in going into details, where one would see the differences between one religion’s stand

and another religion’s stand on details of the ethical matters.

We can be true to the GE only by turning inwards, something which was not in the

perspective of mankind, prior to the Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti. From Krishnamurti’s

perspective the entire GE is an ‘what should be’, the ideal heaven, the utopia, but the

world is in a profoundly agonized state, which is, actuality, Krishnamurti calls this,

‘what is’.

GE: “The world is in agony, the agony is so pervasive and urgent that we are compelled

to name its manifestations, so that the depth of this pain may be made clear…Peace

eludes us-the Planet is being destroyed, neighbours live in fear-women and men are

estranged from each other-children die! This is abhorrent. We condemn the social

disarray of the nations; the disregard for justice, which pushes citizens to the margin;

the anarchy overtaking our communities; and the insane death of children from violence.

We condemn violence and aggression, in the name of religion.”

Sterile solutions to new problems of globalization are of little use. We need to look within,

rather than despair by continuing to look without. We need an entirely new way of

looking at the plight of mankind in this age.

9. The 2018 Parliament Themes:

These must be carefully noted, so that the river of our dialogue may evenly flow between

these banks:

‘The Promise of Inclusion, the Power of Love: Pursuing Global Understanding,

Reconciliation and Change, Women’s Freedom and Equality’

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10. Apex Body Members of the PWR in Chicago:

1. Dr. Robert Sellers, Chair, Board of Trustees, PWR, Chicago.

2. Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield, Executive Director, PWR, Chicago.

Sankara Bhagavadpada’s Introduction:

“Namasthe, on behalf of the panellists. Our deep appreciation, and gratitude to the

PWR, and to Dr. Robert Sellers, the Chair, and Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield, the Exe

Director. Our appreciation and gratitude, equally to all the serious men and women,

gathered here for these seven days.

“In this introduction, we explain, how self-Knowing, will address and dissolve the long-

standing ‘impossible’ problems of mankind; namely inter-religious and socio-political

conflicts.

1. “Identity, Intention and Aetiology: Our backgrounds go back to the Master

Krishnamurti’s life-long work, Hindu Advaita, and Amanaska Yoga, in both

India and Canada, as also to the Western Christian tradition in America. As

panellists, we are all held together by our overriding concern for the destructive

course of human civilization. Though we do not have any affiliation with the

Krishnamurti Foundations in the various countries and are also not affiliated to

any other religious institutions; nevertheless, here at the PWR, we are respectfully

proposing that the meta-religious self-Knowing of the Master J. Krishnamurti,

can illumine and resolve the immense problems in which our modern world is

engulfed. However, this relatively-nascent self-Knowing, is largely terra incognito

for the mainstream religions, even though individuals belonging to these religions,

may have already vastly benefitted by it. We begin with aetiology, i.e.; the precise

diagnosis of our recurring collective brutalities. Once the roots of this evil are

exposed; we respectfully request the PWR, to focus attention on the aetiology, for

firstly, understanding the genesis of this evil at the microcosmic level.

2. “The ‘self’ is a ‘superficial inner essence’ of man. It suffers from a ‘divisive

mentality and a sense of separation in sensory perception as well as in thought and

feeling, between itself and the ‘other’’, and this creates a proneness to evil as its

‘first’ nature. Amidst this tragic portrayal of our human nature, our only

consolation is that, indeed, there exists, also, a core-essence of us, which is our

Divine nature, the Atma. But, as this core-essence is deeply nestled in our

consciousness; humanity has often made the intellectual blunder of supposing that

such a Divine core-essence is non-existent…. Examining in a single sweep, all the

world-wide conflicts, violence, genocides, wars - in our religious, social, national

and political spheres, in the light of self-Knowing, sourced in the Master, J.

Krishnamurti’s (1895-1986) life-long work, we arrive at the aetiology of these

world-wide collective brutalities. And proceeding along these lines, we arrive at

the ‘self’ in the human consciousness, as not only the breeding ground for all the

outer evils, but also, as ‘the mother of all the evils’, that we are suffering from, in

our collective outer life.

3. “The Master J. Krishnamurti, made it abundantly clear that he had no disciples,

no mission, that he belonged to no nation, no religion and that his position as a

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religious teacher, must be understood, without any affiliation, to the religions and

nations. As inter-religious conflicts have always been the most difficult challenges

facing humanity, we are obliged to create a ‘common meeting ground’ with the

religions, so that a dialogue between Krishnamurti’s self-Knowing and the world’s

religions, becomes possible in the first instance. Therefore, departing significantly

from Krishnamurti and bridging the gulf between ‘the nascent continent of self-

Knowing’, and the ‘ancient continent of one of the World’s religions, namely

Hinduism’ (Amanaska Yoga); we have deepened our aetiology of humanity’s

collective brutalities. In the same spirit, we also look for the aetiology of our

collective malaise in new Christian light and in the light of India’s Yoga traditions.

4. “This meta-religious self-Knowing is a paradigm shift in the religious sphere-even

though, Krishnamurti belonged to no religion. We will best understand this, when

we recapitulate how, Mahatma Gandhi’s approach to the freedom struggle,

through Ahimsa (Non-violence) and Satyagraha (adherence to truth), was also a

veritable paradigm shift, as there was no historical precedent to that radically new

line of thought and action in the history of the freedom struggles in the world.

‘Quantum Mechanics’ and the ‘Theory of Relativity’ are outstanding examples

of paradigm shifts, that happened in the world of physics. Here we should not miss

the astounding parallel. Like how, the failure of Classical Mechanics and the

failure of Newtonian concepts, was, what mothered the paradigm shifts; in much

the same way, in our own day and age, it is the failure of our religions to respond

creatively to the challenges of various inter-religious conflicts and social

aberrations; which has culminated in the momentous paradigm shift of self-

Knowing.

5. “self-Knowing, means looking within, through ‘choiceless awareness’ at the

ulterior motives and the divisive activities of the self, rather than looking outward

at the ‘adversarial other’ and this results in a dramatic shift in the very identity of

man, from his problematic superficial self to his core-essence, the Atma. More

importantly, that seed of evil, resident in the self’s, ‘divisiveness and a sense of

separation in sensory perception, as well as in thought and feeling’ also thereby,

suffers a natural scorching at its roots. We respectfully suggest to the PWR, to turn

their attention away from the outer collective illnesses in the religious, social, and

political spheres, and instead focus attention on the inner domain of the human

self, which is the mother of all these outer conflicts.

6. “The collective ills of the world arise from the seed of the self’s divisive mentality

and its consequent proneness to duality. Such a disposition of the self is the very

reason for the lack of creativeness, in the members of the ‘dominant minority’,

who are at the helm of affairs in the religious, political and social spheres.

Therefore, the individuals who constitute these ‘dominant minorities’ in these

spheres, will also have to turn inward and look at their selves, rather than look

suspiciously and judgmentally at their opponents and adversaries.

“Also, religions which have always been obsessed with ‘Knowing the Divine’, will

now do well to allow an infusion of the meta-religious culture of self-Knowing into

their mainstreams. This will necessarily come as a rude shock to religious leaders

and religious institutions. This is so, because, self-Knowing is still terra incognito

in all the religions. The paradoxical thing is that, this shift from ‘Divine Knowing’

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to ‘self-Knowing’, far from giving an irreligious reversal, as we may wrongly

imagine in our ignorance; will on the contrary, speedily bring us home to our core-

essence, which is the ineffable Divine, the Atma.

7. “This meta-religious self-Knowing, has the potency to transform the inner identity

of man, from the superficial and obnoxious self, to the innocent Atma, our Divine

core-essence. We respectfully submit to the Parliament of the World’s Religions,

that this new vision, be vigorously pursued by the religious, social, political

leaders, their institutions and policy makers, starting both from the apex of the

hierarchical pyramid, where reside the more fortunate ‘dominant minority’ as

well as, starting from the base of the hierarchical pyramid, where abound the

unfortunate toiling millions, still groping in the dark under the yoke of ignorance,

exploitation and suffering. From the new seed of looking inward through self-

Knowing, mankind will move from the life of the divisive and obnoxious self to the

life of innocence, in the Atma, our, Divine core-essence. We should not be greedy

enough to expect impossible results overnight. But, if we plant the seeds today in

innocence and with an awareness of the Divine, we can surely hope to see the

sprouting of a mature humanity and a mature civilization, in the next ten

generations. Philosophers and Sages, sobered by the great lessons of history will

agree that our sincere efforts through this new seed of self-Knowing, cannot ever

go in vain (Sankara Bhagavadpada’s Introduction).”

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11. Theme of the Panel Discussion (Session Title):

‘For Inter-Religious Harmony & World Peace, self-Knowing is sine qua non.’

To help locate the content of our panel discussion,

we have declared ourselves as belonging to these categories:

Q1: Related Religious/Spiritual Tradition of the Session?

A1: ‘The Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti’s self-Knowing and Amanaska Yoga’

Q2: Is there a second religious/spiritual tradition of the session?

A2: Hinduism

Q3: Is there a third religious/spiritual tradition of the session?

A3: Christianity

Key Words:

Keyword 1: Advaita Vedanta

Keyword 2: Hinduism

Keyword 3: Christianity

Keyword 4: Interfaith Dialogue

Write-In Keyword: ‘The Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti’s self-Knowing and Amanaska

Yoga’

Primary Category: Global Ethic

Secondary Category: Interfaith Understanding

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12. The Panellists:

1. Mrs. Marsha Dawn Giel (Tampa, FL, USA), Business Management (MBA),

Consultant, Financial Analyst, Certified Yoga Instructor, Panchaasya Yoga

Trustee, Christ-centered and studying the Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti’s Teachings

and Amanaska Yoga. Also, defender of Women’s rights, Co-Presenter or

Panellist 1

2. Sri Madhu Sai Deevanapalli (Kamloops, BC, Canada), Electronics and Tele-

Communications Engineer, Diploma in Business Management, Life-Coach,

Certified Yoga Therapist, devoted to Sri. J. Krishnamurti’s Teachings, Hinduism

and Amanaska Yoga, and Co-Presenter or Panellist 2

3. Sri Lakshmi Kumar Kumar Periasamy (Toronto, Canada), Technology

Specialist and Software Architect with a passion for India, world history &

current affairs. Modern Hindu, who is open to all Faiths, Co-Presenter or

Panellist 3

4. Mrs. LaMor Silas (Valrico, FL, USA), Christian by faith, former IT professional,

Certified Yoga-Therapist(C-IAYT), Meditation teacher, supporter of Women’s

rights, currently interested in the Teachings of the Master J. Krishnamurti, and

Amanaska Yoga, Co-Presenter or Panellist 4

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5. Dr. Sankara Bhagavadpada (Chennai, India), Primary Contact for Proposed

2018 PWR Session. Former researcher in Theoretical Nuclear Physics, author,

teacher of: Vedic astrology and Amanaska Yoga (his understanding of the Master

J. Krishnamurti’s self-Knowing, & Hindu Self-Realization).

13. Supporting Group Present at the PWR 2018:

a. Sri. Subramanian M Kumar (Sponsor, Tampa, FL, USA) Retd Engineer

(Times Inc.), ‘Panchaasya Yoga’ School Director

b. Dr. Prema Shanker (Chennai, India), Consultant Paediatrician

c. Smt. Anita Rao (Tarpon Springs, FL, USA), ‘Yoga Shakti’ School Director

14. That One Self-Same Problem which we are trying to Solve,

whether it be in the Life of our: Societies, Religions or Nations?

We had already spelt out the problem, which is peculiar to our age, in Secs 2-7.

Nevertheless, we shall recapitulate the essentials here for consolidating our

understanding.

It is important for us to take note that, even prior to the advent of aviation technology,

the world was already on an inevitable path of globalization since the preceding three

centuries. Therefore, even at the turn of the twentieth century, peoples of widely

divergent religions, cultures, languages, lands, races, colours, appearances, and

nationalities, were already having to contend with the new unending challenge of

encountering and mingling with alien peoples.

And the challenge itself arose from the real possibility of such encountering and

mingling, unleashing that dangerous ‘sense of separation’ between their ‘self’ and the

‘other’; and consequently, also xenophobia, sourced in a feeling of ‘psychological

insecurity’ because of ‘disturbing’ perceived differences in colour, appearance,

language and religious ideologies. We must note that religions and rationality have

not saved us from our sorrow, so we will have to look for the light, from outside all

the religions of the world.

Ideals, exhortations, punishments, edicts, good counsel, religious commandments,

constitutional reforms-all these are necessary because, historically, we have started

with them, and also because, they are the handy work of a few good men of high

awareness; but honestly, they are far too feeble an attempt in the face of continuing

world-wide sensory delusion and divisiveness in human thinking and perception.

Even the root of the malaise has not been successfully identified. Despair and hope,

both blind us in a negative and positive way, so that we fail to see reality, as it is-not as

we would like it to be. Ideals and goodness and selflessness, of which the GE is an

epitome, are not going deep enough, and are too external in their inspiration and have

always failed in history, sooner than later. We have to realize that man has always been

a brute and also a merciful god - he has been both. He is a savage and a saint, both

forces are in evidence throughout human history.

Mankind’s ‘Sense of Separation’, Psychological Insecurity and Xenophobia1:

So, already in 1893, the time was quite ripe for people of diverse faiths and religions to

start addressing themselves to the entirely new and rather complex question of the

peaceful co-existence of mankind, despite these perceived differences and the

consequent fears that arise from such sensory perceptions. In 2018, some 125 years

after that historical milestone, 1893, it is obvious that it is now more urgent than ever

before to speedily bring about the peaceful co-existence of the various peoples of the

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earth, before their antipathy and hatred for the other succeeds in destroying both,

because of their perceived sense of ‘separation’, their consequent xenophobia, their

feeling of insecurity, and their seemingly innocent religious/racial/political zealotry;

which inevitably degenerates into their fanaticism, ambition and aggression.

The Problem of the Stronger, exploiting, oppressing and even killing off the Weaker:

There is also the other concomitant tragedy that is as old as mankind itself, namely,

the evil of the politically, militarily, economically stronger, controlling, exploiting,

oppressing and finally even killing off the weaker. Throughout human history and in

every age and civilization, we have seen this injustice, violence, this brutality and

genocide, perpetrated time and again, both at the individual level, as well as at the

collective level of the nations, and there seems to be no end to the human suffering that

these genocides and brutalities unleash.

We witness this tragedy happening within the family; between the sexes, both within

marriage, as well as outside it; in social strata, between the so-called high caste people

and the low caste ones; between the economically, politically, militarily, stronger and

the weaker sections; between the stronger nations and their weaker counterparts; and

most disgracefully, even between people of one religion and those of another;

between people of one colour and those of another.

Surveying world history along these lines, we may come to realize in a flash that there

is something fundamentally amiss in the individual’s self and sensory perception of the

world. His self seems to be inwardly fragile and insecure, highly prone to conflict not

only within himself, but also at loggerheads with his fellow beings and the root of this

deep-seated malfunction in the individual consciousness, in his self, which may be

pandemic to the species, must be identified, brought into relief, and studied; before we

may contemplate addressing the collective problem of the peaceful co-existence of the

various peoples of the earth, in this globalizing age.

Here it is important to realize that, whether it be in the life of our nations, or in that of

our religions, or even in our societies; why - even in our individual inter-personal

relationships; we have never had a bewildering variety of different problems, each

calling attention for some separate, unique, solution. Rather, all such problems of

mankind manifesting in the collective domain, have an unmistakable and discernible

common denominator and common genesis - in the domain of the individual’s

consciousness.

And it is when we have lost sight of the self-same nature of the problem, because of the

bewildering variety of their manifestations at the collective level; that we become

deceived and deluded - into thinking that we are obliged to find separate solutions for

each of these problems at the collective level-as though the problems are really,

fundamentally, entirely different from each other. In such a circumstance, we will not

know how to take the first simple step, which may also be the last one, – for the

resolution of these problems.

The self-same nature of the problems in the collective domain, is sourced in ‘duality’,

i.e.; in the feeling of separation experienced in sensory perception, between the self and

the other, and this feeling of separation is also in thought and feeling. And naturally,

consequent to such a feeling of separation, an inevitable surge of psychological

insecurity comes into play, as though the perceived other is already a dreadful enemy

of the self. Obviously, this is the age-old problem of fear at work at all levels in our

individual and collective life.

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Where the perceiving individual is too narrowly conditioned by his religion, the feeling

of insecurity, automatically develops into an arrow of antipathy and transforms itself

into a veritable xenophobia in due course. On the other hand, if, the religious

conditioning was more inclusive in nature, like, the Vedic ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’

(i.e.; the whole world is one family); or, like the Christian ethic, ‘love thy neighbour as

thyself’, then the sense of separation between the self and the other, would have been

normal and evanescent, without developing into psychological insecurity in the first

instance & into frenzied xenophobia, in the second.

15. Change: A Pole Shift in our ‘Domain of Attention and Arena of Action’:

Change: From Outer Society to the Inner Consciousness of the Individual:

GE: “Earth cannot be changed for the better, unless the consciousness of individuals

changes first.”

In the above Sections, we have been suggesting that our domain of attention and arena

of action will have to be shifted from the collective to the individual, from the outer

grosser world of society, to the subtler inner world of the individual. Such a change will

definitely break the old pattern of incremental piece-meal patch-work solutions

appearing in the outer world only, without ever being able to tackle the root of the

various problems, which lies in the inner world of individuals. For, we realized that the

genesis of all our social, religious and political problems lies unrecognized and

undiscovered, in the hidden depths of the individual consciousness. Such a radical shift

in the domain of our attention and arena of our action is bound to have far-reaching

repercussions for the long-term welfare of humanity.

“When the élan of growth in a healthy society seems to have given out, the passive

individual, loses his bearings upon the uncharted sea of the universe; but the alternative

reaction to this sense of a loss of control is, not to look outwards upon a macrocosm

engulfed by evil, but to look inwards to the soul’s own self and to recognize the moral

defeat as a failure in self-mastery.”

-Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, Thames and Hudson, Pg 249

We are at this point, under a moral obligation to urgently turn our attention to that

domain, which is the breeding ground for all the collective outer ills in society, namely

the individual consciousness, and we have to jump into that arena of action, that cries

out for liberation, which is again the individual consciousness; rather than devote our

efforts and energies, as we have been doing since the dawn of our civilizations, in

arenas of action, where our actions have been proven to be inefficient, and where, our

harvested results are entirely impermanent and even barren.

Though, the individual and the collective society, seem poles apart; one being an

insignificant microcosm, the other an immense macrocosm; yet, as the individual is in

himself, a veritable repository of the totality of the collective society; we will have to

cast away our older erroneous impression of the individual as a ridiculously puny and

insignificant entity, and now, come to see him instead, as a symptomatic representative

of his macrocosmic society, in its complete fullness and totality. He can only be as good

or as bad, as his society is. He has the power of a god, who can save his society and

likewise, simultaneously he also has the power of a demon who can destroy his society.

The individual’s power is enormous, both in the godly direction, as also in the

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demonic direction. Fortunately, the individual has the Atmic intelligence to be a god,

rather than a demon. In this alone lies the redemption of mankind.

The Master Sri. Jiddu Krishnamurti was constantly reiterating this very subtle

principle, which has immense ramifications for human society. Time and again, he

pointed out that, ‘You are the World’.

In other words, the outward changing of society, ostensibly for building a better world,

through reformation, legislation, ‘inclusion’ and ‘reservation’ policies, or through the

building up of institutions with grandiose novel ideals and futuristic schemes, religious,

political and social, is not going to be the means and the road to building a better society,

a better earth. That road has time and again proven itself to be unsuccessful and self-

defeating, because, the individual gets away scot free without any inner radical

transformation and moral responsibility. And so, the hope that these grandiose outer

reforms, outer legislations, and outer idealistic actions, will by themselves be potent

enough to enable us to build a better world, a better society, will also be falsified in the

future.

In truth, if we are to build a better world, we must begin with the individual and his

inner consciousness, his self, rather than with the outer reformation of a rotten society-

which is anyhow only a reflection of how pathetic and rotten the individual himself is.

This new inner orientation, which is a reversal of the age-old pattern, does not of course

mean that we impulsively abandon all our good reformatory actions: such as saving,

healing, and rehabilitating victims of war and genocide; amelioration of the

downtrodden, the oppressed, women and children, the poor and the handicapped, the

sick and the homeless. Such reformatory actions are always necessary for bringing

immediate relief, in the demonic processes of war, genocide, ethnic cleansing,

exploitation and enslavement, to the unfortunate aggrieved victims. All of which are the

bitter fruits which have manifested in the outer world.

In reversing the age-old pattern of our mere superficial outer action; we are beginning

an entirely new chapter in our religious history, as also in world history, by going to the

evil-seeds of all the outer bitter fruits, which are sourced in the human self, that now

urgently calls for the taming and calming of the human self. Indeed, the taming and

calming amounts to the scorching of the bitter seeds, so that, they no more have the

potency to come to life again-neither in the inner world of man, nor in the outer world

of his socio-political life.

Here, it may not be out of place to once again remind ourselves that both the Divine, as

well as the demonic energies, which have manifested in our social, political and

religious life, arose from their seminal forms, in the human consciousness, i.e.; in the

Atma and the self, respectively.

16. The 2018 PWR’s Focal Theme of Change:

GE: “Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression,

fanaticism, hate and xenophobia-even inspire and legitimise violent and bloody

conflicts. Religion is often misused for purely power-political goals including war. We

are filled with disgust.”

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GE: “A change in the inner orientation, the whole mentality, the hearts of people, and

the conversion from a false path to a new orientation of life.”

The 2018 PWR was concerned with change, they wanted to see something new, a

surprising and salutary development in the sphere of world religions, not the

monotonous continuation of the same old patterns, same old inane idealism, which is

anyhow not working.

Already in the submitted proposal, we spelt out the arenas of this change, which we

want, which we all are seeking, but there is no clear light here in this arena, as to what

is wrong with the religions and what change must and should happen in the religions

themselves.

First Change: The Pole-Shift in our Religions from ‘Knowing the Divine’ to ‘self-

Knowing’.

We need religious freedom, in an altogether new direction, never-before held to be

necessary for our spiritual welfare. Throughout religious history, religions have been

obsessed with the goal of ‘Knowing the Divine’, knowing all the glories and

excellences of the Divine, all the Merciful Acts, the Mysteries and Miracles of the

Divine. So, as this Divine-centric posture is what they have always been accustomed

to, and as self-Knowing is terra incognito, for the mainstream religions(because, prior

to Krishnamurti, the self has never been brought into brilliant relief, as the most

important object in our inner life, worthy of our keen attention); it is highly unlikely,

on the face of it, that the religions will take kindly to the revolutionary suggestion that

self-Knowing alone can possibly save us from the age-old collective crisis in all spheres

- now, further exacerbated by rapid globalization. From, ‘Knowing the Divine’ to self-

Knowing, it is nothing less than a pole-shift and a paradigm shift.

Therefore, we need religious freedom for self-Knowing, for knowing ourselves. Now,

self-knowing, as we have been saying, is practically terra incognito for all the religions

and because this is so, there is likely to be a subtle resistance to self-Knowing from all

the citadels of religious power.

“Authority prevents the understanding of oneself, does it not? Under the shelter of an

authority, a guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense of well-being,

but that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself*. Authority, in its very

nature, prevents the full awareness of oneself, and therefore ultimately destroys

freedom; in freedom alone, there can be creativeness. There can be creativeness, only

through self-knowledge.”

-J. Krishnamurti, Pg 35, The First and Last Freedom, Victor Gollancz, London.

* Sankara’s emphasis.

Though this has been unsuccessfully happening throughout the history of the religions;

religions should not really coerce individuals to fit into respectable and idealistic

moulds. Rather, the individual himself, must be allowed to discover a religion in tune

with his innate psychic and emotional temperament.

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Hinduism grants this freedom and calls it, ‘Adhikari Bheda Nyaya’, meaning, the

principle of different spiritual seekers being temperamentally different. The implication

here is that because of such temperamental differences, the teaching and the approach

to religion which is salutary to one individual, will not necessarily be salutary to another

individual. This calls for enormous sensitivity and care in the dispensation of religious

teachings to different individuals.

In the other religions, however, individuals are generally beaten into shape to fit into

one standardised idealistic mould. Such compulsion and subtle coercion will never be

conducive to inward flowering, which occurs naturally through self-knowing.

If our religions will be vulnerable and humble enough to admit their present spiritual

incompetence, their moral failures, their lack of creativeness, their bungling on so many

fronts; then there will be for sure, a new dawn, a new renaissance in every religion,

provided, the religions, open their doors to the new teaching of self-Knowing.

When the religious leaders in our day and age, casting aside, their pride and

respectability, come forward purely in their individual capacity, through their own

honesty and humility, to drink to their satisfaction at this fountain of self-Knowing; that

will be the momentous turning point, when through a chain reaction, innumerable

religious institutions, and thus, religions themselves, will also cease to have any

hesitation, or resistance, to assimilating the new meta-religious culture of self-Knowing

into their mainstream.

Second Change: Shift from the outer to the inner.

Sadly, (even in our religious sphere, where there is supposed to be a greater emphasis

on the inner world), the focus of humanity is entirely on our outer world of sensory

perceptions and gratifications. And this is the reason, we are ever so preoccupied with

outer appearances, which are always divisive, on the one hand; and are seeking on the

other, an idealistic outer world, as a refuge and panacea for all our self-begotten ills,

arising from this very divisiveness. It is because we are so much taken up by outer

appearances, that colour, religion, dress, gender, language and culture are seen to cause

insecurity in our ‘outer and inner’ life, especially when these sensory impressions are

‘very different’ from what we have been conditioned to accept as ‘ours’ and what we

have been socially and religiously conditioned to reject as ‘not ours’.

“There is a refusal to acknowledge the necessity of that shift, from the macrocosm (‘the

outer world’, ‘other’) to microcosm (‘the inner world’, ‘self’) *, which we have already

recognized, as the sine qua non of growth, in a healthy civilization.”

- Pg 249. ‘A Study of History’, A. J. Toynbee, Thames and Hudson, London,

*Words in round brackets are Sankara’s.

It is time, humanity changes, gives up its infantile obsession with the exciting ephemeral

outer world of sensory perceptions and gratifications, and comes to discover an inner

sanctuary of bliss and well-being, which is our true home - where, we may choose to

peacefully and perpetually abide, without ever getting bored, or without ever being

driven to seek new and perverse forms of newer sensory stimulation.

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Unless we discover, a blessed inner world, of intelligence, clarity, creativeness,

devotion to the Divine, understanding of the Divine, and wellness through self-

Knowing, i.e.; through the process of identification, understanding, taming and

silencing of the self, we will never have a single clue, as to what the various religions

have been really concerned with in the ages past.

For our part, we do have anchored to religions very often only because of our excessive

worldly cravings and appetites-for success, recognition, material prosperity, and

because of fear. These are not portals worthy of seekers, who wish to grow honestly as

disciples and scholars of religion, who wish to discover religion, rather than become

obedient to religion because of our excessive fear and our excessive greed.

In our present condition of spiritual ignorance and indifference, our relationship

with religion and with the Divine is necessarily superficial-if there is any relationship

at all. It is sadly, either one of outright rejection, or sometimes even complete denial.

At the other end of the spectrum, possessed by greed and fear, we often succumb to

unquestioning acceptance, through blind faith and blind following-never caring to

enquire and never diligently exploring into the Divine, within our own hearts and minds.

It is self-Knowing that is capable of decisively bringing about the much-needed change,

from religious superficiality to religious profundity, from outer religion to inner

religion.

Third Change: Shift from religious belief/faith and solace from religion, to religious

understanding and religious salvation:

Most of the religions are concerned with the offering of solace to their devotees and

followers, so that they remain within the fold of that religion for life and it is this blind

loyalty which is so conducive for the material welfare of the religious institutions. They

do this at best by the cultivation and inculcation of belief in the first instance and faith

in the second. Or, where the religious institution is not diligent enough, faith may not

even be seeded into human hearts, while belief alone may come to take its place-belief

being a weaker and unspiritual cousin of faith. Religious indoctrination’s sole purpose

is to create a religious following, it has never been concerned with the intellectual,

emotional, moral and spiritual flowering of individuals. And obviously, this is the

greatest tragedy of religions and religious institutions. These have always had such a

narrow focus, that the spiritual, intellectual, moral and emotional flowering of

individuals has always been missing items on their agenda of action.

The religions do not offer salvation(moksha) because they do not even inculcate the

appetite for salvation in the first instance and so it should not surprise us, if there are no

takers for the same in mainstream religions. The Indian and Eastern religions of

Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, are certainly obsessed with salvation or moksha, but

even here, in these religions, this has remained a very miniscule concern, while the vast

majority of the millions are quite content with their belief or faith, so necessary for the

life of the problematic and divisive self. The farther reaches of the Indic religions are

certainly based on enquiry and understanding, though not the mainstream populist

forms of these religions. And there are also religions which are based on faith, as well

as understanding. Buddhism has been a singular exception to the faith-based religions-

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for it is entirely based on enquiry and understanding, but even Buddhism has in many

parts of the world degenerated into a religion of faith and solace.

The term, ‘understanding of religion’, makes a departure from the usual expectation

and pattern in religion, which is just one of blind belief or, if we go farther than that,

faith. ‘Understanding of religion’ was never expected, belief and faith was all that was

needed to create a following. The promise of protection through Divine Grace was

sufficient for the unthinking masses, who too, never went beyond belief and faith, into

the mature realm of the ‘understanding of religion’, which always belonged to the sages,

saints, the prophets, the masters and avatars.

While the Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti never ‘stepped into’ the realm of any religion,

as he himself never claimed to be connected to any religion, neither to Hinduism, nor

to Theosophy and its theology, nor to any other religion; nevertheless, all that he spoke

throughout his life, as a revolutionary religious teacher and original philosopher,

belonged to the religious sphere, though not to the realm of any of the organized

religions. What is extremely significant however is that, with the advent of

Krishnamurti’s self-Knowing, it is no exaggeration to say that an entirely new gate has

been opened for accessing the spiritual wealth in religions and this gate may be

legitimately called, ‘understanding of religion’-which follows from a revolutionary

shift in the human consciousness. So, we may ask, what this inner revolution and shift

is?

With the calming and silencing of the self, there is the awakening of intelligence. Then,

when the endless chattering of thought has subsided, we enter the kingdom of

innocence, free of all hypocrisy, double talk, and self-deception. It is only after the dawn

of the awakening of intelligence and innocence, that even ‘understanding of our

religion’ becomes possible. Prior to this awakening of intelligence and innocence, our

equation with our religion was not anything to be proud of- for it was nothing but our

belief and faith on a superficial plane. Without the dawning of intelligence and

innocence, we would never even be capable of knowing that our erstwhile equation with

our religion was entirely superficial, centred as it was on the credulous and infantile

steps of belief and faith. The qualifications which entitle us to enter the kingdom of

‘The understanding of religion’ are the observing, understanding, calming and

silencing of the self.

From this diagnosis of our long-standing religious malaise, we see that it is only after

the self, being ‘driven out’ of every refuge, every shelter, every hiding place, every

respectable niche which society so readily offers; that out identity may shift from the

self to the Atma, our Divine essence. If this, ‘The first and last freedom’, to use

Krishnamurti’s language for a moment, from the self to the Atma, does not happen in

our religious and political leaders, then we will never have creative, humanitarian and

enduring solutions to the conflicts now existing between one religion and another, one

gender and another, one race and another, one people and another.

In the light of the realization that man’s true imperishable identity is the Atma, we have

no option, but to straightaway discard our erstwhile religious identities as, ‘Christian’,

‘Hindu’, Buddhist, ‘Muslim’, Sikh, ‘Jain’, ‘Bahai’. But, let it be noted that this cannot

and should not be enforced, but must happen as a natural spiritual flowering of the

individual, through the process of self-Knowing.

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There are a very large number of people in the modern world, who have no religious

moorings, no religious convictions, no religious faith, no interest in religion, other than

a superficial curiosity, at best. It is very easy for such people to make a claim to be a

global citizen when they do not have any attachment and affiliation to their own

ancestral religion. We are not talking of such individuals who have no roots in any

religion, or in any spiritual way of life. We would like to see, people of deep religious

faith and conviction, people who have lived by the mandates of their religion, ‘fly away

in freedom like the butterfly from the chrysalis’, into the enchanting valley of the

‘Understanding of religion’.

Now that we are facing the daunting challenge of the unification of mankind, called for

by the globalizing age, it is obvious that if religious followers are going to emotionally

invest in their religious faith and religions identities, as belonging to this religion and

that religion - as the essence of their self, there is not going to be much hope, nor the

possibility of developing a genuine solidarity with the whole of humanity, irrespective

of colour, creed, religion, language and culture. This simply arises from the divisive

nature of the self in every individual, who has not flowered, and from the

‘fundamental feeling of separation in sensory perception, thought and feeling.’

When the adherents of any religion, graduate and advance from the mere plane of faith

to the loftier plane of understanding, they certainly become more mature souls (after

the calming and silencing of the self), they lose their narrow religious outlook and are

apt to look upon adherents of other religions, as in no way different from themselves.

If the plane of understanding, available in each of the world’s religions, facilitates such

graduation and advancement of their adherents, nothing more can be asked for and we

may even consider that in such an instance, ‘organized religion’ has done what it could

possibly do to help a pilgrim seeking salvation to walk with inspiration to his goal,

which must obviously be the summum bonum (moksha) in life.

In this way, we will be moving away from the sterile religious superficiality to

religious profundity, which can be found only within the human inner life and in any

of the outer actions and movements, but, only after the shift has occurred from the

self to the Atma.

Here, it may not be out of place to mention the discovery of the legitimate place of

religion in our inner life can only possibly happen with the calming and silencing of the

self. To be able to cross this milestone, it may become necessary for us for a couple of

years, to side-line mainstream society, to even get away from it, if that is called for, so

that we may have the requisite freedom from all social enticements, and compulsions,

for being able to look within and grow in self-knowing, finally reaching that mature

position of the calmed and silenced self.

Fourth Change: The shift in our religious identities and in our very sense of the Self,

from the ‘superficial inner essence of the self’ to the Atma, our Divine essence.

As we are facing the pressing challenge of the unification of mankind, because of rapid

globalization, there is a need to metamorphose our relationship with our religions. This

might come as a rude shock to religious followers, who have merely had faith, but no

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understanding, and for whom the religious identity of their superficial inner essence of

the self, is the very essence of the totality of who, they perceive themselves to be.

We must envision a revolutionary change in our association with our religious

institutions and in the religious identities and attachments, we have carved out for

ourselves, for the emotional and psychological security of our superficial inner essence

of ourselves, namely the self. Usually, faith in our religion, while serving as a staff in

our pilgrimage on the road of life, can also become pathological, because of the

possibility of the human self to align with the demonic. When this happens, our faith

ceases to be the light and the staff on the road of life, and instead, paradoxically

succumbs to the divisiveness in thinking, to which the human self is already notoriously

prone.

Thus, the present challenge of the unification of mankind, in a divided globalizing

world, implies, disciplining our faith and enlarging our sense of ‘me and mine’, to

encompass the whole world (the ancient Vedic ideal of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, the

world is one family).

The unification of mankind envisioned and foreseen in the Global Ethic, as well as in

the 2018 PWR, calls upon us to drink the waters of self-Knowing, so exhaustively, that

we are no more capable to retaining our old narrowly circumscribed religious identities,

as a Christian, as a Hindu, as a Muslim, or Buddhist, or Jew or Jain, as we had mistaken

ourselves to be in the past, due to our spiritual ignorance and spiritual infancy. This is

expected to be the most challenging change this is likely to overtake the world. We will

find that, prior to immersion in self-Knowing, we all had a narrow religious identity,

coming from our religious conditioning, superimposed on that already divisive nature

of the self and that feeling of separation between ‘self’ and ‘other’, not only in sensory

perception, but also in thought and feeling. Whereas, after self-Knowing, because of

abidance in the Atma, we somehow feel one with all animate and inanimate things of

the earth. It is in this blessed state that all religions become intelligible to us, if ever a

surge of inclination to look at them is set a going, for various reasons.

17. The Paradigm Shift of self-Knowing that has already happened in the Religious

Understanding of man’s self, whereas, there is an Obliviousness to this Momentous

Shift - in all the Religions of the World:

‘As the concept and significance of ‘paradigm shift’ has gained brilliant clarity, ever

since the American Physicist and Philosopher of Science, Thomas Kuhn used it for the

first time in an original way in 1962 in his renowned work: The structure of scientific

revolutions; we shall use that same term here to illustrate the significance of the life-

time work of the Master, Sri. J. Krishnamurti. However, before we do that, we will be

obliged to provide several illustrative examples, which will then bring out the

momentous nature of the change, that is referred to, when the expression, ‘paradigm

shift’ is used.

Example 1: The socio-political transformation, which usually happens in a dramatic

and revolutionary way from a monarchy to a democracy. This happened in Nepal in

1955.

Example 2: The socio-political transformation, which happened in 1947 in the saga of

the freedom struggle of the Indian people, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi,

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from British Imperialism to a Democratic form of Government, will be another

example.

Example 3: The modus operandi of the freedom struggle of the Indian people, under

the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, through the path of Ahimsa (Non-Violence) and

Satyagraha (tenacious holding on to Truth), would also represent a paradigm shift in

the whole process of securing freedom of an oppressed people. There was no historical

precedent to Mahatma Gandhi’s process in world history.

Example 4: The inability to account for the spectral lines of Hydrogen, by Classical

Mechanics, created a paradigm shift, when the revolutionary concepts and principles

of Quantum Mechanics (1926) were adopted as the correct system of Mechanics,

applicable to the microscopic world of atoms and electrons.

Example 5: The leap from automobile technology to aviation technology was another

paradigm shift in engineering technology. And then again, the leap from the industrial

world to the digital world through the Information Technology would be another

example of paradigm shift.

Example 6: The revolutionary shift in our common-sense physical understanding of the

nature of space and time, mass and energy, that the negative result of the Michelson-

Morley Experiment (1887) called for; lead to the paradigm shift in our notions of space-

time and matter-energy, and this came to be called Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

(1905).

When an old traditional system of understanding and world-view (and this could belong

to the socio-political sphere, religious sphere or even the sphere of scientific research

and understanding), which has been known to work smoothly, suddenly and

unexpectedly breaks down in a certain new domain, context, or age; thereby creating

confusion and chaos, rather than the old expected order; that is usually the time, when

an entirely new revolutionary theory, world-view or understanding of the system or

nature, may emerge, bringing with it a radically new way of understanding the

problem and thereby banishing the existing chaos and confusion, and ushering in its

place, a new order, a new brilliant clarity in our understanding. When such a

momentous change happens, under the above circumstances, it is called a paradigm

shift. It does not mean a quantitative change, but a radical change in our outlook, in our

old framework, in the way we perceive itself.

The life-time work of the Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986), represents such a

paradigm shift in the understanding of man’s inner, spiritual and religious life (for want

of better terms), through, what he called, the choiceless awareness of what is. The

essence of his teachings is centred on self-Knowing and what is implicit and very

significant is that when one goes sincerely and deeply into this self-Knowing through

choiceless awareness, it results in our insightful understanding of the self which then,

leads to the calming and silencing of the self. Once the self is calmed and silenced, we

are grounded in the Atma, and intelligence is awakened, as, intelligence, love and

understanding-all of these are no more than fragrant emanations from the Atma, our

Divine essence. With the shift of man’s identity from the self to the Atma, his inner and

outer life is expected to undergo a dramatic change, very well described over and over

again in all the higher religions.

His life and teachings may be best grasped from the following milestone events in his

life, as that of the long-awaited ‘World Teacher’.

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i) Though born in India (1895) and educated in England and in Adayar (India) by

Annie Besant and Bishop Charles W Leadbeater, the second line of leaders

of the Theosophical Society, for the role of the Coming World Teacher(this

was the mission of the Theosophical Society), he broke away from the vision of

the Theosophical Society, for on Aug 3rd , 1929 at the Ommen camp in Holland,

in the presence of Mrs Annie Besant and more than 3000 members of the ‘Order

of the Star in the East’, and with many thousands of Dutch people listening on

the radio, Krishnamurti made a historically unprecedented and momentous

dissolution of the religious organization of the ‘Order of the Star in the East’,

and since then, he decisively not only distanced himself from all established

religions and religious organizations, he renounced all property, position and

power and made a revolutionary beginning with no followers and no so self-

seeking disciples, etc. Through this one master stroke, he slew that demon of

self-deception that has always been present in all organized religious

institutions, and in human consciousness as well. From this point onwards, he

began his life in solitude as a solitary sage, without any organizational

paraphernalia to support and glorify him.

Text of his Momentous Speech on that Occasion:

“We are going to discuss this morning the dissolution of the Order of the Star.

Many will be delighted, and others will be rather sad. It is a question neither for

rejoicing nor for sadness, because it is inevitable, as I’m going to explain…

“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any

path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I

adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless,

unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organised;

nor should any organisation be formed to lead or coerce people along any

particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it

is to organise, a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot

and must not organise it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallised; it becomes a

creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.

“This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is

narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who

are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the

individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountain-

top to the valley….

“So, that is the first reason, from my point of view, why the Order of the Star

should be dissolved. In spite of this, you will probably form other Orders, you

will continue to belong to other organisations searching for truth. I do not want

to belong to any organisation of a spiritual kind; please understand this….

“If an organisation be created for this purpose, it becomes a crutch, a weakness,

a bondage and must cripple the individual, and prevent him from growing, from

establishing his uniqueness, which lies in the discovery for himself of that

absolute, unconditioned Truth. So that is another reason why I have decided, as

I happen to be the Head of the Order, to dissolve it.

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“This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this.

The moment you follow someone you cease to follow the Truth. I’m not

concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain

thing in the world and am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am

concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free

him from all cages, from our fears, and not to found religions, new sects, not to

establish new theories and new philosophies. Then you will naturally ask me

why I go the world over, continually speaking. I will tell you for what reason I

do this; not because I desire a following, not because I desire a special group

of special disciples. (How men love to be different from the fellow men, however

ridiculous, absurd and trivial the distinctions may be! I do not want to

encourage that absurdity.) I have no disciples, no apostles, either on earth, or

in the realm of spirituality.

“Nor is it the lure of money, nor the desire to live a comfortable life, which

attracts me. If I wanted to lead a comfortable life I would not come to a camp

or to live in a damp country! I am speaking frankly because I want this settled

once and for all. I do not want these childish discussions year after year.

“A newspaper reporter, who interviewed me, considered it a magnificent act to

dissolve an organisation in which there were thousands and thousands of

members. To him it was a great act because he said: “What will you do

afterwards, how will you live? You will have no following, people will not listen

to you.” If there are only five people who will listen, who will live, who had

their faces turned towards Eternity, it will be sufficient. Of what use is it to have

thousands who do not understand, who are fully embalmed in prejudice, or do

not want the new, but would rather translate the new to suit their own sterile

stagnant selves?...

“Because I am free, unconditioned, whole, not the part, not the relative, but the

whole Truth that is Eternal, I desire those who seek to understand me to be free,

not to follow me, not to make out of me a cage which will become a religion, a

sect. Rather should they be free from all fears-from the fear of religion, from the

fear of salvation, from the fear of spirituality, from the fear of love, from the fear

of death, from the fear of life itself. As an artist paints a picture because he takes

delight in the painting, because it is his self-expression, his glory, his well-being,

so I do this and not because I want anything from anyone. You are accustomed

to authority, or to the atmosphere of authority which you think will lead you to

spirituality. You think and hope that another can, by his extraordinary powers-

a miracle-transport you to this realm of eternal freedom which is Happiness.

Your whole outlook on life is based on that authority.

“You have listened to me for three years now, without any change taking place

except in the few. Now analyse what I’m saying, be critical, so that you may

understand thoroughly, fundamentally….

“For 18 years you have been preparing for this event, for the Coming of the

World Teacher. For 18 years you have organised, you have looked for someone,

who would give a new delight to your hearts and minds, who would transform

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your whole life, who would give you a new understanding; for someone who

would raise you to a new plane of life, who would give you, new encouragement,

who would set you free-and now look at what is happening! Consider, reason

with yourselves, and discover in what way that belief has made you different-

not with the superficial difference of the wearing of a badge, which is trivial

absurd. In what manner has such a belief swept away all the unessential things

of life? That is the only way to judge: in what way are you freer, greater, more

dangerous to every society which is based on the false and the unessential? In

what way have the members of this organisation of the Star become different?...

“You’re all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness

on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else…. When I say look

within yourselves for the enlightenment, for the glory, for the purification, and

for the incorruptibility of the Self, not one of you is willing to do it. There may

be a few but very very few. So why have an organisation?...

“No man from outside can make you free; nor can organised worship, nor the

immolation of yourself for a cause, make you free; nor can forming yourselves

into an organisation, nor throwing yourselves into work, make you free. You use

a typewriter to write letters, but you do not put it on an altar and worship it. But

that is what you’re doing when organisations become your chief concern. “How

many members are there in it?” That is the first question I’m asked by all

newspaper reporters. “How many followers have you? By this number we shall

judge whether, what you say is true or false.” I do not know how many there

are. I am not concerned with that. If there were even one-man who had been set

free that were enough….

“Again, you have the idea that only certain people hold the key to the Kingdom

of Happiness. No one holds it. No one has the authority to hold that key. That

key is your own Self, and in the development and the purification and in the

incorruptibility of that Self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity….

“You have been accustomed to being told how far you have advanced, what is

your spiritual status. How childish! Who but yourself can tell you if you’re

incorruptible?...

“But those who really desire to understand, who are looking to find that which

is eternal, without a beginning and without an end, will work together with

greater intensity, will be a danger to everything that is unessential, to

unrealities, to shadows. And they will concentrate, they will become the flame,

because they understand. Such a body we must create, and that is my purpose.

Because of the true friendship-which you do not seem to know-there will be real

cooperation on the part of each one. And this not because of authority, not

because of salvation but because you really understand, and hence are capable

of living in the eternal. This is a greater thing than all pleasure, than all

sacrifice.

“So those are some of the reasons why, after careful consideration for two

years, I have made this decision. It is not from a momentary impulse. I’ve not

been persuaded to it by anyone-I’m not persuaded in such things. For two years

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I have been thinking about this, slowly, carefully, patiently, and I have now

decided to disband the Order as I happen to be its Head. You can form other

organisations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with

creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set

men absolutely, unconditionally free.”

[Pgs 273-275, Krishnamurti, The Years of Awakening, Mary Lutyens,

Shambhala, Boston, 1997]

ii) Krishnamurti was very concerned about the right education of children, as he

had suffered such a lot during his own school years at a tender age. The Rishi

Valley School, in Chittoor Dist, Andhra Pradesh, the Valley School in

Bangalore, ‘The School’ in Chennai, ‘Rajghat Benares School’, another school

in the Western Ghats in Maharshtra, the ‘Oak Grove School’ in Ojai, California

and Brock Wood Park School in England are well known for attempting to

inculcate the culture of freedom for flowering and self-Knowing, that was at the

heart of Krishnaji’s work. Thus, his religious work had its impact in the sphere

of education, but he was not at all satisfied with the progress these educational

institutions made in the direction intended by him.

iii) Krishnamurti was ‘the seer who walks alone’, he had no disciples, no followers,

no mission, except setting man, unconditionally free, and he did not

institutionalize this basic vision, as all spiritual and religious missions are

known to do. However, a large number of well-wishers supported his work and

his talks in many Western countries and in India. His various Foundations, the

Krishnamurti Foundation India (KFI), the Krishnamurti Foundation,

England (KFE), the Krishnamurti Foundation, America (KFA) worked to

govern the Schools and publish his talks and writings. There is also a Spanish

Foundation which came into existence, much later than the other foundations.

There are archives of his writings and his history well-preserved by all the

Foundations in India, England and America.

iv) Krishnamurti’s stand on the Guru and any Authority figure is well known. He

wanted those who said, they are interested in his teachings, to look inward and

be a Light unto themselves.

“Authority prevents the understanding of oneself, does it not? Under the shelter

of an authority, a guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense

of well-being, but that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself.

Authority, in its very nature, prevents the full awareness of oneself, and

therefore ultimately destroys freedom; in freedom alone, there can be

creativeness. There can be creativeness, only through self-knowledge.”

-The First and Last Freedom, Pg 35, J. Krishnamurti,

Published by Krishnamurti Foundation India, 2016.

v) Krishnamurti took long walks into the mountains and valleys, where he is alone

with Nature. He always woke up at 4am in the morning and during these

meditative walks, he often came face to face with ‘That Otherness’, ‘The

Benediction’ which is the climax or the meeting ground of the human

consciousness and the Divine, and he has repeated time and again that that is

something ineffable, something which cannot be captured by words. He did not

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speak about the existence of God and did not make that part of his world-view

and philosophy, but when we look at his mystical communion with ‘That

Otherness’, it is quite clear that he was profoundly religious, in much the same

way in which the Upanishadic Sages were ‘religious’, in the esoteric sense.

Krishnamurti: “It is strange how during one or two interviews that strength,

that power filled the room. It seemed to be in one’s eyes and breath. It comes

into being suddenly and most unexpectedly, with a force and intensity that is

quite overpowering and at other times it is there quietly and serenely. But it’s

there, whether one wants it or not. There is no possibility of getting used to it,

for it has never been nor will it ever be…”

[13th July to 3rd Sept, 1961, entry in ‘Krishnamurti’s Notebook’,

Victor Gollancz Ltd, London]

vi) His writings, dialogues, public talks constitute his Teachings. And in this arena

of his ‘Teachings’, there is not much evidence of his profound meditative

communion with a Transcendental Reality, which he variously described as

‘The Otherness’, ‘The Benediction’, ‘The Vastness’, etc. However, by contrast

to his ‘Teachings’, if we immerse ourselves in ‘Krishnamurti’s Notebook’, or in

‘Krishnamurti to Himself, His Last Journal, or in ‘Krishnamurti’s Journal’, we

will see that here we are entering into another world which stands apart from the

world of his ‘Teachings’ and his biographer, Mary Lutyens, calls this the well-

spring of Krishnamurti’s Teachings.

If instead of leaving the two domains of his life and work, namely, (i)the

Teachings and (ii) his mystical life, separate and unconnected; we dare to see

them together, as integral parts of a larger whole; then we will not have an iota

of doubt or scepticism that Krishnamurti was one of the greatest religious

teachers of the last century and the millennium.

vii) Though he did not ever identify himself as an Indian (that would have been an

anathema for him) or much less, a Hindu. He stood apart from all the religions

and all nationalities. This stand, which was most natural for him is very unique,

in the religious traditions of all the peoples.

viii) Unlike the other great world leaders and masters in the religious and even

political field, of Indian origin and Hindu affiliation: Adi Sankaracharya,

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and

Sri Ramana Maharshi; Krishnamurti stands completely apart, far away from

the Indian and Hindu world, as a solitary religious teacher, who belonged to the

whole world and to all the peoples of the earth.

ix) Krishnamurti: “The soil in which the meditative mind can begin is the soil of

everyday life, the strife, the pain and the fleeting joy. It must begin there, and

bring order, and from there move endlessly. But if you are concerned only with

making order, then that very order will bring about its own limitation and the

mind will be its prisoner.”

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x) Krishnamurti: “In all this movement you must somehow begin from the other

end, from the other shore, and not always be concerned with this shore or how

to cross the river.

“You must take a plunge into the water, not knowing how to swim. And the

beauty of meditation is that you never know where you are, where you are going,

what the end is.”

xi) Krishnamurti: “Understanding of the self requires a great deal of intelligence,

a great deal of watchfulness, alertness, watching ceaselessly, so that it does not

slip away.”…

“The whole process of that, namely, competition and every form of desire is the

self and we know when we are faced with it that it is an evil thing. I am using

the word, ‘evil’ intentionally, because the self is dividing: the self is self-

enclosing: its activities, however noble, are separative and isolating.” (From

the work, Freedom First and Last).

xii) In Krishnamurti’s way, there is no room for ‘sadhana’, ‘spiritual practice’,

slow improvement of oneself bit by bit; no necessity to study the scriptures, no

necessity to adopt any religious practices for self-purification. Instead one

directly begins to read the book of the self, which we already are and if we read

this one book diligently, with great care and compassion, then the book becomes

void and then he puts it this way: ‘Life begins when thought ends’. In his way,

life called for periodic dying, so that rejuvenation of life would be possible. This

was central to his teachings, that life and death are inseparable, and he said,

when we die to our hurts, insults, sorrows, then fear of death would never ever

be there.

xiii) Krishnamurti has pointed out that ideals will never bring about self-knowing

nor the transformation of the self, nor the ending of sorrow. Krishnamurti said:

“It is brutal to have ideals”-because ideals deny, suppress the chaotic craving

self but are not capable of calming and silencing the self, through choiceless

awareness and understanding of the self.

xiv) Krishnamurti speaking to Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), the first Prime

Minister of India (1947-1964). This is being displayed here, to bring home the

fact that Krishnamurti considered self-Knowing sine qua non, even for heads

of state and world-leaders.

“Understanding of the self only arises in relationship, in watching yourself in

relationship with people, ideas, and things, the trees, the earth, and the world

around you and within you. Relationship is the mirror in which the self is

revealed. Without self-knowledge, there is no basis for right thought and

action.”

Nehru asked: “how does one start?” To which Krishnamurti replied,

“Begin where you are. Read every word, every phrase, every paragraph of the

mind, as it operates through thought.”

xv) I was introduced to the Master Sri. J. Krishnamurti (even as, I have been

introducing this Master to many seekers since 2009, with the publishing of my

first work, Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Moksha), way back when I was 7, by my late

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mother through upbringing, and then again when I was 21, I was very seriously

introduced to the Master’s Teachings, by my other philosopher-friend and

Master, Sri Bhagavan.

Three sutras given by the Master, Sri Bhagavan, were enough to make me turn inwards.

He initiated me powerfully into Hinduism (when I was 15) and the Master Sri.

J. Krishnamurti’s Teachings (when I was 21).

Sutra 1: “If you do not look within, your life will become a pig’s life”.

Sutra 2(about the Master Sri.J. Krishnamurti):

“Is it not a shame on the world, that there are not ten like him

to burn the heaps of rubbish and to dispel the darkness.”

Sutra 3(On seeing):

“To postpone is just another trick of the mind for its continued security,

To postpone is the height of hypocrisy,

To postpone, is to be denied of freedom for ever”.

In these 12 Sections, I have tried to give a comprehensive picture of Krishnamurti’s

life-time work on self-Knowing and why, we may consider this sine qua non for our

religious life, for Inter-Religious Harmony, and for World-Peace, and why we may

therefore, consider this momentous change, a paradigm shift.

18. Faith and Fanaticism, their Relationship in the World Religions:

In our beclouded vision of the religious life-because of the complete absence of any

understanding in this arena, we seem to think a world of our faith. We are all told by

our religions that we ought to have faith and what is utterly absurd is that when we start

asking Qs about the propriety of various religious mandates and rules that become

binding on us-we are told, we are asking these Qs, because we do not have faith in our

religions and faith in our priests and prophets, Masters and Gurus!

However, if we look at religious fundamentalism in the world, we see that all

fundamentalism is based on religious faith, carried to the extreme, at which point the

blindness of the faith has gone so far that in the name of that very faith, we start killing

other people who do not belong to our religion, we start spewing hatred and crimes on

people who do not belong to our faith. Clearly all these are utterly irreligious acts,

utterly criminal acts, for religion in its true sense can never transgress human principles

of justice and the golden rule of ‘doing unto others what you would have them do unto

you’.

The GE of the PWRs is simply the extracted ethical essence of all the religions brought

together into one comprehensive document. Ethical essence, principles of justice, are

all completely bereft of belief, cultist ingredients, bereft of religious authority, which is

invariably rooted in the cultist posture, etc. Looking at the horrors perpetrated in the

name of religions and God, it is obvious that faith can be misused and abused and when

this happens, faith itself paves the way for religious fanaticism, which is no virtue at all

and which is fundamentally inhuman. From these lessons from history, we ought to

realize that we have to move out from the milestone of faith and move ahead, further on

the road, till we come to the understanding and this cannot at all happen, without self-

Knowing. This is where, self-Knowing becomes our saving Grace and sine qua non for

World Peace and for Inter Religious Harmony.

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In other words, we have to be very wary of the nature of our affiliation to all the things

to which the self latches on, for securing some form of security or the other. Thus my

religion, my nation, my tribe, my caste, my language, my profession, my gender, my

looks, my education, my wealth, my family, my culture-all of these supports and

anchorages to the self are suspect, for they are potential breeding grounds for all sorts

of conflicts between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, at various levels.

19. The Rot in Religions Sets in, from the Top & Descends to the Bottom:

We have seen in Sec 18 that Faith is just far too inadequate to ward off inter-religious

strife. It is not robust enough for bringing in Inter-Religious Harmony and world Peace.

What then happens, when there is the assimilation of self-Knowing, starting with the

lowest level of the individual, or starting with the upper level of the creative

minority(the religious leaders)?

With self-Knowing comes a new life, one in which the body and individuality lose

primacy. Instead, the totality of life gains primacy, and in this state, what is bound to

shine in your life is Truth, Intelligence, Compassion and if our religious leaders have

not been able to ascend this far in self-Knowing, they will firstly cease to be a light to

themselves and in this condition of inner darkness and utter lack of clarity, they will be

unable to meet the challenge of leadership, in perception, word, decisive decisions and

action; and it is this which precipitates the rot at the top and then soon it also comes

cascading down to all lower levels. Therefore, it is urgent that our leaders be brought

on to the path of self-Knowing. However, this cannot be a speedy recipe for instant

action and immediate result. It will be a slow process till it crosses the level of ‘critical

mass’ and once this ‘sparking limit’ has been exceeded, then the change will proceed

at an accelerated pace.

20. ‘Tolerance’ is an Impoverished Solution for all Conflicts:

Human history shows that we have been practising a hypocritical brotherhood, offering

lip service, diplomacy, all in the hope of creating a better world, full of harmony, instead

of division, conflict and sorrow. However, these have been sterile solutions, coming

from impure hearts, for deep down, each self-seeking self, is fundamentally divisive in

perception, as well as it thought and feeling and as long as this is the condition in our

inner worlds, nothing good can ever blossom in the outer world-which anyhow cannot

be anything but a reflection of what goes on within the inner world of the self.

Rather than superficially beginning with the outer world and employing manipulation,

clever talk, we need to put our own house in order (as Krishnamurti would say), before

we have any legitimacy to clean up the outer world successfully and in a durable way.

21. ‘That Dark Cloud of Divisive Perception, Thought and Feeling’

Think of a dark cloud of divisive thinking and perception, and a sense of separation not

only in sensory-optical perception, but also concurrently in thought and feeling,

‘hanging over our heads’ much like a cloud we see at higher altitudes in the mountains.

Our sense of separation, firstly in sensory optical perception, and thereafter, also at the

subtler level of thought and feeling, is so very pervasive, that divisiveness has also

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imperceptibly infiltrated into the grammatical structure of all our languages, Sanskrit

included. The ‘Person’, namely first person, second person and third person, all bespeak

of this inbuilt divisiveness. It is so fundamental and so pervasive that, the moment we

open our mouths and start speaking a language, we inevitably step into this Dark Cloud

of Divisive Perception in thought and feeling, and a sense of separation. In other words,

though our languages are well-developed and sophisticated, the moment we start

employing that tool in communication, we immediately fall a prey to this divisiveness

in perception. Thus, our languages nourish and sustain the root illusion given to us by

our sense of optical perception, that we are all unconnected and ‘different’. Through

the spoken and the written word, we pamper this root illusion and give ever-lasting life

to it. This is the reason, the illumined sages have always preferred, silence and the

negation of language, to the use of language, for conveying the eternal truth. That our

languages are all afflicted by the divisiveness, coming to us from our sensory optical

perception, as well as from or feeling of separation between self and other.

Unless the shift actually happens, from the self to the Atma, we will not be able to make

an original discovery that all of the languages, imminently sustain and nourish the

illusion of divisiveness and duality between the self and the other.

When the shift happens from the self to the Atma, only then, we get away from the

original condition of being within the dark cloud of a sense of separation and

divisiveness in thought and feeling. Once the shift has happened, we will not anymore

be befooled by our sensory perception and this would be the necessary condition for

living the new human life, without any problems and without a sense of division

between the self and the other. Thus, we are proposing and suggesting that humanity

will have to exit this beclouded condition, which means, the shift has to happen from

the self to the Atma, at least in our religious leaders to begin with. Once this major

milestone has been crossed, then we can think of making it possible for the political and

social leaders to emerge from this dark cloud.

22. Where Religious Authority is Beneficial and where, Religious Authority is

Positively Harmful:

All religions have a higher aspect and a lower aspect. The lower-function of religion is

to offer protection, solace, hope, faith and religious instruction to people in profound

distress, people with no hope at all. This is an undeniable lower function of all religions.

However, when the same people who had formerly been in distress, come into better

times, and secure that opportunity to start thinking for themselves, then the lower

function of religion has to change into the higher; in that, religion now has the new

responsibility of making that individual self-reliant, and at the same time ensure that

the individual develops emotionally, intellectually, morally and spiritually. This

continuous development of the human consciousness cannot be an easy challenge for

any religious institution, or religious teacher, for it demands massive investment of time

and massive commitment to human welfare and individual flowering.

When an individual is inclined to think for himself in religious matters, the religious

teacher responsible for his spiritual and religious development, ought then to see that

that individual secures the necessary freedom for his complete flowering. As usually

this kind of a flowering, happens in the wake of a misfortune, as the individual grapples

with a misfortune; it is in such times that the religious teachers and religious institutions

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should bestow greater care and concern for the welfare of individuals in the throes of

suffering and in the throes of flowering.

At this stage in the development of an individual, religious teachers and religious

institutions, rather than encourage him to enslave himself to his religion, to be obedient

to religious authority, to be perpetually affiliated to a religious institution; must now

propel him in the entirely different inward direction. This will mean that he is

encouraged to read the book of his life through self-knowing and not depend on outside

religious authority for answers to life’s difficult challenges and problems. Unless the

individual is encouraged to turn away from the crippling influence of religious belief

and religious authority and obedience to dogmatic religion and religious authority, he

will not have the necessary freedom to discover anything in the field of life and religion

and this means that he will be a unthinking follower, who has no light within himself.

“Authority prevents the understanding of oneself, does it not? Under the shelter of an

authority, a guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense of well-being,

but that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself. Authority, in its very

nature, prevents the full awareness of oneself, and therefore ultimately destroys

freedom; in freedom alone, there can be creativeness. There can be creativeness, only

through self-knowledge.”

-J. Krishnamurti, ‘The First and Last Freedom’, Pg 35,

Victor Gollancz, London.

As Krishnamurti was mostly talking to educated people in different parts of the world,

he was invariably asking people to think for themselves and to discover the essence of

the themselves, which has to begin with the study of what goes on in his or her

consciousness. This is the way self-knowing has to naturally commence, in the face of

the difficult challenges in life. The essence of Krishnamurti’s teachings is this necessary

freedom for the individual and without this freedom granted to him by religious teachers

and religious institutions he is not likely to flower, intellectually emotionally spiritually

and religiously and will therefore come to take his place as a mediocre, in a society

which is itself mediocre.

Thus, there is a time in the religious development of individuals, when their freedom

takes precedence over their obedience to religious authorities, for without this freedom,

self-knowing becomes an impossibility. And without the flowering of individuals

through self-Knowing, society will itself fall sick in due course, if it is not already in

sickness.

23. Anchorage to ‘Spirituality’, not to Religion:

A great inner tragedy has befallen the Western world-for ever since the so-called age

of enlightenment, in the 16th century in Europe, the West has to a great extent thrown

away the ancestral Christian religion and adopted ‘science and technology’ as its new

faith, worldview and the truth. Arnold J. Toynbee, the British historian, has called this

process, the apotheosis of science and technology. Having lost this priceless wealth,

the West has frequently come upon substitutes, which it calls ‘spirituality’, and in this

there is a great tragedy, because this spirituality has neither helped in the rediscovery

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and recovery of their discarded ancestral religion, nor in the coming home to the Divine

within their own bosoms.

24. Religion has become Unintelligible to Modern Man:

When we enquire, why so many people in our day and age, are unable to understand

religion, or unable to understand the fundamental metaphors, the parables, the religious

symbols and religious mythology, we will find that the mind of modern man, which is

currently, very proficient in science and technology, has been so decisively turned in a

materialistic direction, that it no longer has that ancient innocence, nor the special

Intelligence, which the Hindus have called Prajnya, for understanding the subtler truths

of all the religions. It will be no exaggeration to make a prognosis that when through

self-knowing, the dormant fiery Intelligence Prajnya is once again awakened and

kindled, even modern man, will then be able to come back home to his ancestral

religion, as that would have entailed a shift from the self to the Atma, our Divine

essence.

25. The Functions of Religion:

Man needs the light of the religions to understand: (i) the mystery of the Divine and

man’s connection with the Divine; (ii) to understand the self and transcend sorrow in

life; and (iii) to understand the world, and (iv) to understand the place of his self in

society and in the cosmos. Each religion throws special light on every one of these Qs.

Religion also brings man to discover his own Divine essence, his soul or Atma.

Krishnamurti and the Buddha have been mostly concerned with the understanding and

the transcendence of sorrow in man’s life.

26. ‘Together we can Move Mountains’ (Affirmation of the GE):

It is obvious that our religious leaders (‘creative minority’) in every one of the

religions, as also our social and political leaders must be educated through self-

Knowing, for without this inner self-examination, there can be no hope for mankind,

everything will only be wrong understanding and superficial reformation. This will set

in motion the light of clear understanding from top to bottom in all our societies.

At the same time, we must also set the light in motion in an upward movement, starting

with intelligent leaders at the grass-root levels. This two-way immersion in self-

purification through self-Knowing is the only durable solution, all other solutions have

been tried and have proven themselves to be failures: diplomacy, hypocritical

brotherhood, manipulations, aggression, deception, the strong exploiting the weak, even

killing off the weak for profit.

We have to launch a new world wave of self-Knowing and the PWR has it within its

power to set this world-wide self-Knowing into decisive motion. Having understood

the malaise in which man is caught-so clearly, the PWRs, will also have the power and

the clarity, for ushering in this massive cleansing of human consciousness and the

consciousness of societies, through self-Knowing, and the consequent, calming and the

silencing of the self.

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It is also obvious that we may not see the fruits of this new endeavour in our own life-

time, but does that really matter? Because, ultimately, there are no individuals, but only

one Eternal Life orchestrating a Divine tragi-comedy, called life.

Author: Sankara Bhagavadpada

Address: ‘Ashirvad’, No:2/507, III Cross St, Sunrise Avenue,

Neelangarai, Chennai- 600 115.

Tel: +91-98840 10548,

Tel: 044-2449 1233.

Email: bhagavadpada@gmail.com;

info@tat-tvam-asi.org

Websites: www.tat-tvam-asi.org

and www.Hinduworldastrology.net

https://www.youtube.com/c/drsankara

Dated: 21st July 2018, Chennai.